Issues

Abortion

Ohio Right to Life was founded in 1967 in response to increasingly permissive abortion laws across the U.S. While Ohio Right to Life addresses multiple issues that fall under the umbrella of promoting and protecting the dignity of human life, abortion is by far the most pervasive issue of our time.

The Ohio Department of Health’s most recent Abortion Report (2017) demonstrates that the number of abortions is still far too high, with 20,893 reported. This is nearly a 26 percent drop from 2010 (28,123 to 20,893).

Adoption

Why Adoption?

There are various reasons why a parent might decide that adoption is the best option for a child. Perhaps the pregnancy was unplanned and the mother isn’t sure she’s ready to take care of a baby. Maybe financial, emotional, or other circumstances make the transition into parenthood difficult. For whatever reason a parent has, adoption is a brave, loving and life-giving decision that places a child in the care of another loving family.

Many parents in Ohio are looking to bring new children into their homes. Whether because they cannot have children of their own or because adoption simply calls to them, these adoptive parents have the potential to give children the loving home that every child deserves.

Several of the children available for adoption are considered special needs because they have physical health, mental health, emotional health, and developmental problems. Throughout Ohio, couples with the love, talents and security to take care of these special children are waiting to adopt them.

We encourage families looking to adopt to explore their support system and seek services when issues arise throughout their adoption experience. All of Ohio's children are in need of families that can provide a loving, stable and secure home for a growing child.

Resources

For information about adopting a child and adoption agencies/resources, call Ohio’s Help Me Grow Hotline at 1-800-755-GROW (4769).

Eugenics and Fetal Experimentation

Of all human beings, pre-born human life is most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. While Ohio Right to Life welcomes legitimate medical advances to alleviate suffering and cure disease, those advances must never result from the intentional death and destruction of unborn human beings. The foundation for this baseline principle of medical ethics comes from the Hippocratic Oath.

Euthanasia

Euthanasia is the purposeful killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his/her alleged benefit. Euthanasia has been advocated for certain classes of human beings, including the handicapped young, the mentally impaired, the terminally ill and the comatose. The inevitable result of this trend will be to escalate from killing for the alleged benefit of an individual to killing for the convenience of others.

Euthanasia violates the principle that each human being has intrinsic dignity and value, regardless of age, physical or mental condition, or state of dependency. Euthanasia seeks to improve the quality of life not by compassionate acts of care and assistance, but by exterminating those who fall below an arbitrary standard. Killing is never a proper expression of compassion.

We approve of the accepted medical practice of administering pain-relieving drugs in whatever dosage necessary to alleviate the suffering of the terminally ill, as long as there is no intent to bring about or hasten the patient's death. We care about human life and about people and families facing difficult medical decisions. We promote positive steps of advocacy to protect all human life, no matter what stage on the continuum of life.

Human Development

Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking and the Right to Life

Human trafficking is the modern day practice of slavery. Victims of human trafficking are often forced or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation for the financial gain of another person. It comprises the fastest growing criminal industry in the world and it is the third most profitable criminal industry, behind drug and weapon trafficking. Sex trafficking victims, on average, are first exploited by their trafficker at the age of 13.

Right to Life

Much like abortion, human trafficking thrives because of society’s general lack of respect and value for the inherent dignity of human life. Just as the abortion industry uses the unborn child for profit, the trafficker also profits off of the vulnerable woman who he sees as disposable.

In addition:

Human trafficking harms women, men and children and takes away their right to their own lives.

Human trafficking is a threat to the right to life of unborn children

Human trafficking enables forced abortions to thrive, especially in a society that does not hold abortion clinics accountable for under reporting sexual abuse.

Ohio

Each year, 3,016 domestic Ohio youth are at-risk for sex trafficking because of their vulnerable status as runaways or homelessness. Another 1,078 youth have already been trafficked into the sex trade.

In 2010, Toledo was listed among the worst cities for human trafficking in the United States. Given the city’s population in comparison to other human trafficking hubs, such as Miami, Sacramento, Portland and Las Vegas, Toledo can be considered one of the worst of its kind per capita.

Get Help

If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) toll-free hotline, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-888-373-7888 to speak with a specially trained NHTRC Call Specialist.

These calls really do make a difference! Since 2007, 6,660 calls have been made with reference to Ohio.

Infanticide

Baby Abandonment and Infanticide

The tragedy of baby abandonment is being addressed by state legislatures throughout the nation. A number of states, including Ohio, have passed laws to provide funding, care, and services for abandoned children. These legislative actions have also established 'safe havens' - public centers such as fire stations, police stations, and other public areas where women can bring unwanted children rather than leaving them in trash receptacles.

In Ohio, a baby up to 30 days old can be left with an employee on duty at any hospital, emergency medical services provider or law enforcement agency in the state. For more information on the law, click here.

The hope is that, by being offered an alternative to abandonment, women might leave their children with people who can help the baby.